Emmett worked with Grafton Architects from 1997 – 2006 and became Project Director there in 2004. Emmett was project architect on a variety of private and public commissions and competition projects in Ireland and Europe.

Emmett was project architect on a new building in Dublin City University, the Solstice Meath Arts Centre and co-project architect on North Kildare Educate Together School. Emmett led the team which worked to develop new housing for Bjorvika, Oslo, Norway and was part of the competition team which won the Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

In 2017 Emmett returned to Grafton Architects to work with Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNarama to deliver ‘freespace’, the 18th Architecture Biennale in Venice. Mc Namara and Farrell were appointed Curators of the Exhibition in 2017, the first time any artist or architect from Ireland have been appointed to Curate a Biennale.